You Get What You Deserve
by SariauChan
Summary: Morel got drunk one night before the mission to take out the King Chimera Ant. In his drunken haze, he made a call. "Hey, Morel, I need an excuse as to why I'm coming back with a plus one!" A chipper voice said through the telephone. He wasn't sure if he regretted it or not. (Hopefully not crack)
1. Why doesn't gravity WORK?

**Why Doesn't Gravity Work?!**

Cheetu flicked the white thing away with his tail boredly. He was sprawled in the shade of one of the few trees in the savannah. The Chimera Ant liked running; the speed he was able to accomplish is a rush. He chortled at his pun. He didn't nearly like going this slow, but he'd been ordered by that lion to head off anyone trying to make an escape towards West Gorteau. This was definitely one of the most boring jobs he ever had in his short lifespan; the prey didn't put up enough of a fight. He glanced at the worn path a few meters away.

A figure flew past him, kicking up dust from their speed. He could hear them land in a controlled manner, and the sound of long hair whistle through the air die as they slowed down. They smelled female, and Cheetu couldn't help the nasty grin on his face. He loved hunting women.

When the dust settled, he saw his prey. She looked like those humans from those tall shiny buildings with not a wrinkle in her black fake fur. She was looking at something in her hand, and that thing was giving off a pitch that bothered his ears. What did humans call them again? Phony? Yeah, that sounded right. She swiped her finger across the surface after a quick glance at him. Why the hell was she ignoring him? She should at least be doing the same things the humans did when he was in one of their settlements. Screaming their heads off.

"Did you know your entire species has been ordered to be eliminated?" The woman asked idly as she swiped again with a glance. He had no clue where she was going with this. Her reaction had thrown him off balance, and not even in the infuriating way that smoke guy did. "The only survivors are going to be the ones spared by the Punitive Branch." She continued uncaringly before he could respond. "Unfortunately for you, I am not a member of that division." Cheetu watched her pocket her phony, and slide into a defensive stance with the sense that he was being insulted somehow.

"If you're able to hit me, I'll introduce myself."

It was official: this woman was worse than that smoke guy. He was going to enjoy ripping her to pieces. Cheetu batted the white thing towards her with his tail, and the moment that he was sure her vision was obscured, he sped at her with his fist raised. The Chimera Ant expected his attack to miss, or that it wouldn't have an effect on her. He could see that she had a similar aura to that smoke guy, so he would have a second attack ready when the first failed. So it was a surprise to watch this human fly back with his punch.

His ears twitched. The noise she made when landing was the same as when she got here, but it looked like she was uncontrolled in the air. No, he glanced quickly at his hand still balled into a fist, she managed to do something in the split second to go almost as fast as his attack, canceling out the power he had put into his punch. How did she do that? She was one of those rare humans- what's her ability? Speed? If that was the case, this fight might be more interesting than he thought.

The human finally stood up, brushing dust from her pencil skirt. "That was lucky. I would have gotten ruptured internal organs with that punch. You telegraphed enough for me to prepare." She said with a smile.

Cheetu sneered. "Thanks for the lesson, but you're gonna die in my next attack!" He hopped back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I'm the fastest out there, and you won't see it coming."

She nodded agreeably. "That's true." Cheetu frowned in confusion. Was this human giving up? That's no fun. _"Up!"_ The human commanded with a suddenly stern face. Something was wrong, he felt strange. What did she do to him? Cheetu jumped back. Only he didn't touch the ground again. He looked down to see the worn path below him. He was slowly floating upwards. "But that won't matter if there's nothing for you to use your speed on. This fight goes to me. "

He was still floating higher, and no matter how foolish he felt, he tried to swim back down. His attempt only managed to halt his progress towards the sky. It also made the female laugh. He really hated her guts. "You suck!" He cried out petulantly, paddling faster and not any closer to the ground. Even his hair was floating!

"Hey! If I were to let you go, what would you do?" The woman called up from below after a few minutes. Cheetu's ears perked up.

"Really? You would?" He said excitedly. Maybe this human wasn't that bad. He stopped paddling, and flicked the white thing away again.

"If you give the humans you've killed a proper burial, and not kill any more- yeah." She responded with a pointed look at the not-so-hidden pit next to the tree Cheetu had been lounging beneath earlier. Oops.

The Chimera Ant scratched his head sheepishly. "What's a proper burial then?" Was there a special way for their dead? He thought they just put them in the dirt to let something else eat them. It was different from how the other ants handle their dead; they just ate everything, and left what was left to the lower ranks to finish off.

He watched the female give him a measuring gaze. "Individually buried gently with care and respect for their bodies, and a marker of some sort above ground to indicate their final resting place." She said without looking away. "Agreed?"

Cheetu thought about it for a bit. There were a lot of bodies in the hole he had made, he should know. But if he didn't, this human would use her rare ability to kill him somehow. He was lucky to get a chance at all, seeing how the female had started the fight and all. He sighed, "I hate doing work, but I'll do it."

* * *

And that was how he ended up working for Riakke… Sort of.

* * *

"Hey Morel! Do you remember that call you gave me a couple days ago?" Cheetu listened to the female chirp into the Phony. He could hear someone spluttering from the end of the annoying device through the high pitch it kept whistling. "Yeah, about that. I'm going to need an excuse as to why I'm bringing a plus-one back with me." There was a long pause where this strange human gave him a playful grin.

 _"WHAT?"_ crackled out from the end of the Phony. Cheetu's ear twitched. His paws were raw and bleeding from digging the many graves, hauling large stones from wherever he could find them, and using his talons to etch strange shapes into the stone again and again. He just wanted to call it a day and collapse in his tunnel. But he didn't want to chance getting killed for running away, he had a feeling the female could float him in the air whenever she wanted, so that option was out. He fell back on the packed ground of the desert as he listened to the human's conversation.

"I said I-"

 _"I heard what you said! You better have a damn good explanation for this Riakke!"_

At least he wasn't going to be bored...

* * *

 ** _((A/N: Okay, so I might have been sitting on this one for a year or so... (Because I just couldn't get the ending to this chapter/one-shot *haven't decided yet* right) And I once again jumped fandoms again since I got stuck in the others. But I couldn't help myself! Cheetu definitely did not deserve to die like that (whoops, spoilers!) and I am going to change that right here!_**

 ** _On a final note, Riakke_ is _a cannon character! (Genderbent, and unknown abilities aside) You'll see a reference to him about seventeen minutes into episode 99 of the more recent version of HunterXHunter.))_**


	2. You go with the flow

**((A/N: Yay! I'm posting again! This story hasn't stopped bugging me (along with a confusing guest's review… what does a lawn mower have to do with anything?) since I uploaded the first chapter however many weeks (months) ago! Either way, enjoy this chapter** **for Valentines Day!))**

 **Summary:**

Work smarter, work harder was a saying Nanami identifies with well. She would have to with a part time job, full time school, and juggling an irresponsible father longer than she could remember. A completely new society and culture revealed to her just because some guy kissed her forehead takes the cake. Now she is a part of this new world, and she's determined to not screw this up by rushing in like an idiot.

* * *

 **Kiss Kiss**  
 **Chapter 2**

There had been a long explanation from the two Wisps with quite a few derogatory comments from Tomoe thrown in, but in the end the Land God nodded in understanding, deciding to ignore the fox demon until he says something helpful. That could take a while. She might as well finish her withdrawal forms then move on to making White Talismans.

The sky was a beautiful indigo when she plopped on the front porch, ready to fall asleep right then. When Kotetsu and Onikiri said that making White Talismans would be tiring, they weren't joking. A platter was placed next to her, and she smiled at the back of Onikiri as he floated away. She sat up to eat when Tomoe sprawled next to her with a cup full of Sake in his sat there in silence looking up at the stars in silence.

"Oh right." Nanami turned to the fox demon. "I noticed some holes in the roof of the kitchen, do you know anyone that would be willing to help repair the shrine in return for talismans, food, or a safe place to stay for the night?" She paused, rubbing the spot on her forehead where Mikage marked her as the Earth God. "Preferably someone who won't attack me for this."

Tomoe looked at her with an unreadable expression for a moment before watching the stars again. "I am maintaining the shrine-"

"No." His glare didn't stop her from saying her mind. "I don't want to depend on you. Not when it's just a whim."

"And what do I get out of it?"

"You _don't_ have to maintain the shrine?" One look at Tomoe's face made her hastily try, "I'll make Inarizushi?"

Tomoe sighed and took a sip from his cup. "I'll see what I can do."

When Nanami took a bite of her food, she realized it had gone cold. She shrugged and finished her meal in silence.

* * *

Was she ready? Probably not, but time certainly wasn't going to be stopping for her. Thankfully, Onikiri and Kotetsu knew how to make the appropriate preparations to welcome their guest. Nanami was brushing her hair, and wearing her newest school uniform.

"Lady Nanami! What are you wearing?" Onikiri had come into the room with a box almost as big as he was. "It can't be helped. Here, change into this." The Wisp opened the box on the tatami floor to reveal clothes.

Nanami wasn't sure what was wrong with her clothes; they were the newest she had in her duffel bag. Still, she couldn't pass up more clothes. She pulled out the cloth to realize how high the quality the fabric in her hands truly was. This was a beautiful kimono!

"I can't wear this!" The Land God folded away the clothing with as much care as she could. "It would be ruined the moment I took a step." She explained softly to Onikiri. "Maybe I could wear something a little more common and less-" she paused to think of an appropriate word, "priceless?"

The Wisp nodded sullenly, and floated away with the box in his hands. He returned soon after with another box. He lifted the lid for her inspection, "Is this better?"

The Land God could almost feel her eyebrow twitch after lifting the kimono into her hands. It was just as expensive as the one previous, with maybe a different cut to allow a larger range of movement. She glanced at Onikiri from the corner of her eye. Who knew this Wisp could be so passively cunning? Nanami glanced at the clock. The group from the Tatara Swamp would be here soon. Did Onikiri plan for her to be left with no choice so she would agree to whatever he chose? She had a feeling that this would become a repetitive situation.

She let the Wisp do as he pleased for now. There really wasn't time to be bickering with him if she wanted to be appropriately ready to greet a Queen. As the two Wisps pulled the different layers of kimono around her, and tugged her hair into place, Nanami rehearsed the proper formalities she would have to display for their guests. "Okay! Try walking around!" Kotetsu said, breaking her from her thoughts.

Nanami obliged, and took a few shuffling steps, taking care to not step on the edges of the tatami. It was easier than she thought, but still a struggle. She lifted her arms next at her Wisps' prodding, and the weight was strangely comforting for her. The Land God took a steadying breath. She could do this!

* * *

She couldn't do this! The Wisps were about to slide the shoji screen to let in the Yokai Queen of the Tatara Swamp, and her mind was blank. It was like studying for an assessment for weeks only to flip the paper over to not remember any of the answers- only a hundred time worse because this wasn't an assessment!

Nanami took another deep breath in, and tried to exhale her paranoid nerves away. It worked a little, so she did it again until she felt she had control over herself. The shoji screen opened, and two obvious Yokai walked gracefully to the cushions placed for them. "Welcome," she greeted, "I apologize for any offense I make tonight. I have only recently been appointed for this position, and am not very prepared for situations like this." What just came out of her mouth? Nanami smiled warmly at the two sting across from her, not showing the shock she felt for how eloquent her bullshitting sounded.

Onikiri and Kotetsu floated in with the appropriate drinks for the guests, and sat politely in the corner so they would be at hand if they were needed.

Eventually, the Queen said why she was paying the shrine a visit. It had nothing to do with her sudden God status, like the Wisps had explained. "It was ten years ago, when I found him crying at the boundary of my swamp. I showed myself to him, and he didn't run away. I was fascinated by him when he confided in me his troubles. He should be eighteen now, and is an adult in human's eyes. I would like you to match Kotarou Urashima with myself." Himemiko's face was so soft when she spoke of this boy, and Nanami cursed her romantic heart.

She didn't miss the aide casting a glare at no one. Nanami calls him on it. "Why are you so against the wish of Numano-sama?"

He stands proudly, and almost moves towards her. She could see his muscles twitch before he restrained himself. "The Queen should not stoop so lower herself to a human. No demon should!" He claimed with another glare.

Himemiko ignored her aide's words, and looked at Nanami with the question in her eyes. _Would you search for him?_

She sighed. "Onikiri, do we have a directory?" The Wisp floated out through the door without an answer. The aide allowed himself to fall back to his seat, and there was a long awkward pause. Nanami was internally floundering for a topic when Onikiri returned with a thick book.

The recent Land God flipped the pages, "Here it is! There's one Kotarou Urashima in the area!" She looked up to see the Queen's hopeful expression. "Numano-sama, you should understand that this may not be your Kotarou." Nanami really didn't want to get her hopes up. "I would not be able to verify if he is your Kotarou since I am not yet able to protect myself outside the Mikage Shrine."

"Then I will provide a guard for this task." The Queen of the Tatara Swamps was used to getting her way.

"If they have the ability to disguise themselves as a human, then I accept." Nanami answered. She had no idea where this fluency came from, but she was glad it did. It saved her from a lot of awkwardness that night.

* * *

 **((A/N: I hope you guys like your Valentine's Gift! Enjoy the holiday!))**


	3. You don't vote for kings

**... Good thing we have a Chairman.**

Riakke scrolled through the broadcasted report that had been bombarding her email for the last ten minutes straight to the end where injuries and causalities were listed from her position on her comfy armchair. There was one listed death. There was also a kid that was in intensive care, and it was unsure if he would make it, but he hadn't contributed to the death counter yet. That had to count for something.

There were some temporarily crippling injuries listed: a shattered tibia and fibula, a deep laceration that was too close to the spine for comfort, micro-fractures in someone's right ulna and radius, extreme Nen exhaustion, and a general bruising on everyone involved. That can be healed up with a bit of correctly applied Nen, so she wasn't too worried.

"What's up?" Cheetu asked as he walked out of the bathroom. Dressed as much a she could get him when not in disguise (daisy dukes only) and rubbing his wet hair with a towel. He had taken an extreme liking to modern living from human cuisine to temperature controlled plumbing.

She didn't blame him. From what he told her he remembered from his previous life in the country of NGL, she would be pampering herself too.

"Looks like the Chimera Ant Mission Morel talked about is out. All the ants that were going to be killed are dead." Riakke wired her phone to the printer to get a physical copy of the report for the speedster. She wasn't about to hand her phone over to anybody, and wasn't planning to in the future. Cheetu didn't like being near wireless technology (or just technology in general) so it worked out between them.

He flipped through the papers with an ease that he didn't have a month earlier. His rate of growth was scary fast, but he plateaued quickly after getting to a level of adequacy that satisfied him. She feared for the libraries nearby now that Cheetu knew how to read.

If she had to guess his mental age, Riakke would guess upper-teens, maybe ready for higher education. His mental maturity had been getting better too, but he had his moments. He hummed, apparently losing interest, and tossed the balled-up papers into the bin.

Riakke watched him carefully. "Do you want to meet them?"

Cheetu plopped down on the couch and put his feet on the coffee table uncaring of the water he dripped onto the wood. "The survivors? Not really. I only really hung out with my squad, Leol, and his squad." He scratched the inside of his ear. "If they're throwing a "Yay! We survived!" party, I'm not going. Let them think I'm dead."

"You sure?"

He glared at her, and she returned with an unblinking stare. "You're not going to let this go until I go. Huh?"

She nodded with a quirk of a smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll make sure there aren't any "Yay! We survived!" parties." Her smile turned into a grin.

"I can't wait." Cheetu deadpanned.

Her phone buzzed in the following silence, causing her to frown. The alerts for the report should have stopped when she opened the document. It had for a bit, but to start up again? Maybe there was a second broadcast or something. It was unusual to get one mandatory broadcast, but two so quickly after the other was unheard of.

She opened the new document, and read through it. A deep sigh followed soon after she had finished, and Riakke stood up and headed towards her room.

"Hmm? Riakke?" Cheetu asked as he leaned over the back of the couch to keep her in sight.

"I have to go somewhere. It isn't a good idea to bring you with me or leave you here, so pack up. You're going to stay with the other Ants for a bit." Riakke answered. Already, there was a suitcase on her bed, and she was folding similar clothes to the ones she was wearing into it. Most of the space was taken up by the battery that was built into the frame, but when most of her spare time was spent on her phone, a reliable source to charge from when traveling was important.

"What? Why can't I just stay here? We just got the gaming systems set up too." The speedster complained from the living room.

She huffed. "Because I want an apartment to return to. Because I want an _apartment building_ to return to. Because I don't want you to get a head start on those games I bought." Riakke called back, soon finished, and clasping her suitcase closed.

She followed the sounds of groaning back to the living room. "Come on, don't you want to bring your nice shampoo, body wash, and fluffy towels with you? I've got a tote that should be able to fit it all." She lifted the empty bag in her hand, and it suddenly vanished.

"You suck!" Was yelled petulantly from the bathroom.

She grinned at that. "If we're quick, we might have time to try some food in York New. I hear they have some good street food vendors!"

The complaining stopped half a second after she finished, and when the second completed, Cheetu was standing next to her with a bulging tote that looked like it had more than just hygiene supplies in it. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" And he vanished.

Riakke shook her head at his enthusiasm, and followed him out the door. Locking it behind her, she made her way to the roof of her building, and waited.

As she stood there, she made a call. "Mackernasey. I hear you almost got chopped in half. Aren't you one lucky sonofabitch?"

There was an exasperated sigh from the phone. " _Fellarock. Don't you have more important things to do than call me at"_ there was a tired pause, _"two fifty in the morning?"_

The Hunter checked the clock on her phone. It wasn't that early was it? Oh right, time zones. "Whoops." She admitted. "In my defense, it's five fifty-two over here."

 _"And that makes it any better?"_ Was the sarcastic reply she probably deserved. Then, _"You're heading over to the election then?"_

"Yeah, but I've got to drop someone off first. Do they have a phone number I can use to give them a head's up?"

Morel gave another sigh, and sent over a message with the contact information. _"Try to call them later when it's reasonable to be awake."_ He grumbled, and the called ended before she could retort.

She did a bit of math in her head, and decided that calling the Chimera Ants right then wouldn't be a good idea. Probably safer for her health too.

Then Cheetu appeared in front of her, sheepish. "Which way was York New again?"

She chuckled, patting his shoulder as she walked past him, and took a running jump off the building. She started to fall sideways, and called back the terms of the race, "First one to find someone selling Shawarma gets to order first for the rest of the night!"

"The hell is Shawarma?!"

* * *

 ** _((A/N: I don't even know. I was trying for a "slice of life" fluff, but then I remembered the plot, and figured that could interrupt that so nicely..._**

 ** _Let me know what you think in a review!))_**


	4. Slicin' Fruit!

**Slicin' Fruit!**

Riakke had her phone at its dimmest setting, and wasn't really listening to what's happening on the stage. The commotion when that Leorio guy had punched one of the Zodiacs had died down a while ago, and was on stage talking about helping his friend? Like she said, she wasn't listening.

She sliced another watermelon on her screen. "Pssst!" Riakke turned to see a woman with red hair and yellow eyes holding up her own phone with the same game displayed on the screen. "Wanna match? Sitting here listening to them talk is going to give me wrinkles!" She pleaded. Riakke smiled, and switched to multiplayer. They played through the next few rounds of voting, eventually introducing themselves somewhere after their seventh round of playing. "I'm Khara, by the way."

"Riakke." She grunted, focusing more on the combo she was growing on her phone than being polite.

She heard a sound of recognition from the other Hunter. "I think I remember hearing about you a while back. Didn't you wander into the Hunter Exam and pass?" Khara sounded a little incredulous by the end, not really paying attention to the game and still wracking up points. How was she doing that?

She hummed noncommittally. "It wasn't my fault the password that time sounded like a viable request."

The countdown ended, and the words "YOU LOSE!" bubbled up animatedly before they burst.

* * *

Never let it be said that she trusted this crowd to decide anything. There were obnoxious shouts of "What kind of father are you?" and other slurs that were along the same line of thought. But she figured they hadn't caught how the kid addressed Ging.

Not once did the kid say anything that could be heard as a relative status. No dad, no father, just Ging.

And Ging was obviously affected by Gon being there.

Riakke could see it from where she was sitting in the back row. Ging only started to get flustered when his kid started to cry; he didn't seem to react or care about anything else this election had thrown his way. He definitely cared about Gon.

Aaaaand there was a brawl going on now that the voting ended. Ging was certainly putting the smack-down on everyone else. Riakke had very carefully positioned herself out of the way when a bulky figure leaned against the wall next to her. The silence was comfortable when she eventually spoke. "Can I have a rain check on getting roaring drunk with you?"

"Having a plus-one made you responsible? I should have foisted someone on you years ago!" Morel laughed.

She chuckled with him. "Maybe, yeah. I'm not looking forward to the damage control I'll have to do when I pick him up." She rested her head against the wall with a groan. "And then there's the paperwork to get him legal. Not including the hoops I would have to jump through if he got it into his head to take the Hunter Exam!" Good thing she had a few contacts at a really good law firm. Maybe the Chimera Ants have a system that works for them, and she could borrow it to use for Cheetu. She thumped her head on the wall a few times to banish those thoughts before stepping away and headed towards the pile of people near the stage.

She was going to get in a fight. She didn't want to be responsible.

These Hunters were extreme wimps. Riakke didn't need to use Nen to fling these losers back in the general direction she thought they had sat for the election. A punch or two to the head for the more difficult ones, and then she let them fly. With Ging in the middle of the crowd curb stomping everyone within reach, and her tossing those on the outskirts into unconsciousness, it took no time at all for the some-odd six hundred on two to finish.

With the urge to be contrary satisfied, Riakke started to climb the stairs to talk with Morel some more. "Not going to comment on my fatherly abilities?" Stopped her, and she turned her head back at one one the candidates for the Chairman position.

"He seems to be doing just fine." The _without you_ was left unsaid, and seemed to fly over the father's head judging by how proudly he smiled. She withheld the eye roll she so wanted to do, and stomped up the stairs to Morel. "Let's get you some normal clothes. It's just freaky not seeing you in your suit."

He chuckled at her, and lead her out of the huge auditorium. "I've got a set back at the hospital I can change into." He said when they were in the elevator. Riakke hummed, her phone out and in her hand with the other holding the suitcase. "I've been meaning to ask, but why'd you let him live? And none of that bullshit you used when you first called me."

Riakke was confused for a moment before she realized he had switched topics. She thought about it for a while, and followed him out of the elevator when they reached the ground floor. "Hmm? I suppose I did it because I could understand him."

Morel stumbled, and she could see is eyebrows were raised above his sunglasses. "How is that a reason?" He demanded.

"Well, I wasn't really thinking when I decided." She scratched the back of her head, embarrassed. "But lookin' back on it, I'd like to think I made the right call."

Morel made an encouraging sound for her to continue, but she waited until they were out of the Hunter's Association building and in her rented car. "Cheetu is able to communicate, articulate his thoughts, learn from his deficiencies, and improve at a rapid pace." She explained, glancing at Morel in the passenger seat from the corner of her eye, buckling her seat belt, and started the car. "I wouldn't be surprised if the other surviving Chimera Ants were able to do so as well, though not as much if I understand it right. I'm guessing it's because they remember being human before they were eaten. Cheetu has mentioned a couple things that supports my theory." She barely paid attention to pulling out of the parking lot and into traffic. Idly, she cursed out the idiot in front of her for going so slow in her head, but didn't let it distract her from her conclusions.

"But have you asked them who they were before? What did they do? _How old they were?_ "

There was a moment of tense silence in the car as Riakke let Morel think about what she was insinuating.

He remained quiet throughout the rest of the trip.

Eventually, Riakke commented quietly as she watched Morel step out of the car, "I'm really glad I didn't end up killing a kid. It's not in my restrictions, but that sort of thing would stick with me for the rest of my life." She smiled at him.

Morel grunted, and shut the door.

Riakke sighed deeply, and made her way to the rental agency. "He is a lot like me when I was younger." She murmured. The sun would be setting soon. If she was fast enough, she might be able to make it to the Chimera's mansion by sunrise.

Including time zones, of course.

* * *

 _ **((A/N:**_ _ **I don't even know anymore... I was going to write about her Hunter Exam, but Pitou77 from Ao3 turned it over to this (thank you, by the way!). I tried to squeeze it in, but it never turned out right. Maybe next chapter, yeah?**_

 _ **Has anyone figured out what Riakke's Nen is? Like type and ability? Leave a guess down below!))**_


	5. Whoops?

**Whoops?**

" _How do you always end up in these situations?"_ Her mother's resigned voice came through the speaker of her flip phone. Riakke had to agree with her. Just about every vacation she had gone on since her hormones started to show had gone awry in the most unpredictable of ways. " _Weren't you traveling with your father for summer break?"_ And that was the rub, isn't it?

"Dad got a pretty bad sunburn yesterday. He didn't want to ruin this part of the trip, so he sent me out, and all this happened." She was pretty resigned to this kind of thing happening too. Maybe if she didn't call it a vacation next time, nothing would happen? Yeah, right.

" _But Riakke,"_ her mother hesitated, " _the Hunter's Exam?"_ It was well known that the people who tried for the title of Hunter would most likely die. The younger the applicant, the more likely they were to die. With Riakke having just recently turned fifteen, the stakes were high. Not like she was going to change her mind with an opportunity like this landing on her lap.

"Yeah." She sighed. "Hopefully, this will fill my quota of weird for the summer, and nothing else will happen." She had given herself some space from the other examinees to have some semblance of privacy. But someone was approaching her with a friendly look on his face. "Sorry, mom. I have to go. I'll call you when I'm done, and if dad calls you, tell him to go on without me. I'll catch up later."

" _Be safe! Have fun!"_ Her mother said and hung up.

Riakke tucked her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and turned just as the friendly guy neared. "Hi!" He greeted cheerfully. "I'm Tonpa. This is your first time taking the exam, right? Let me know if you've got any questions."

For some reason, Riakke was getting the feeling of _STRANGER DANGER!_ from this guy. She nodded in understanding, and didn't accept the offered drink and snack.

She didn't miss the micro-expression of anger when she declined.

* * *

She had been wandering the mall for about an hour before she saw it. _Hunter's_ was a small store that had been hidden in an out of the way corner on the first floor of the mall. It sold camping gear and hunting merchandise, all of it being mass produced and therefore low-quality. Riakke was about to leave when she heard someone in the other isle talk.

"Excuse me, do you have any bows?" She peaked over the isle to watch a tan man that dressed like he was from the eighties ask the cashier.

"We have plenty here." The cashier gestured to the wall behind him boredly. Riakke had already looked at them, and thought they would be better sold at a superstore than a shop specializing in outdoor goods.

She would know, having tripped over a small hunting convention during her last spring break. She had made a friend who had shown her around, and Riakke found she liked this kind of stuff. Which was why she had walked into the store in the first place.

"But where do you keep your good bows?" The eighties man countered. The group of four behind him didn't seem to be in need of bows, or that they were friends of any sort with the eighties man, Riakke noted.

"Those? We keep them in the back room. Feel free to let yourself in and browse."

Huh. She stepped back behind the isle, and continued to examine the horribly made arrows. Listening to the footsteps of five people vanish towards the back. Should she ask the guy behind the counter?

Her stomach grumbled.

Maybe she should eat at the food court first?

Another hour later, Riakke walked up to the cashier of _Hunter's_. She asked him the same questions as the eighties guy, idly noting that this was a different cashier than the one from before. They still had the same conversation that she had watched earlier.

Riakke was definitely having one of those super spy movie feelings when she stepped into the back room. That was empty.

Not quite empty, she realized as she looked up at the display on the wall close to the ceiling. Then she felt the room move down. "Like an elevator." She mumbled to herself as she watched the display increase in negative numbers. The room slowed to a halt at negative two hundred fifty, and one of the walls lifted to reveal a huge tunnel. There was a crowd waiting a distance from the room she walked out of, and then there was this green blobish guy in a suit handing her something to pin to her shirt.

She nodded in thanks, and read what was printed on the badge's round face. "217?" Riakke had a bad feeling about this.

Just what had she gotten into this time?

Maybe she should call her dad. She flipped open her phone, amazed she could get reception down here at all, and called her father.

...

He didn't pick up.

With a sigh, she called her mom.

* * *

After looking around for a while, Riakke came to the conclusion that she was the youngest participant there. Most of the crowd were of the body-builder type, and around mid-thirties. She looked like a twig in comparison, and the others seemed to think that as well judging by their dismissive looks in her direction.

Just for that, she was going to wipe the floor with the rest of the competition!

An alarm went off behind a wall that was raised like the one in the "storage room," drawing attention from the whole crowd.

Beans, she had learned the name of the green guy, stopped the alarm. "The exam is about to begin." He called. "The first stage is to get to the end of this tunnel by the end of the day. That is to say midnight tonight." I checked my phone. It was ten in the morning; fourteen hours to complete theorist stage. "Some ways appear to be dead ends, some are really dead ends. Other paths are traps, while more still could lead backwards. Most of the paths have a capacity limit, so don't be last. There are no rules outside of reaching the end of the tunnels by midnight." He continued.

"Begin!" Everyone launched themselves forward. Riakke looked up when something caught her eye, and realized what was happening. The wall that was raised before was closing on the slower half of the examinees!

Did that mean that every path will half the group, and force them to stay behind or to find another way through?

Up ahead, there was a single split in the path. Which way? Already, the ceiling was coming down now that people were passing through them.

Riakke moved faster to make it into the path on the right.

The longer she ran, the more people she noticed began to lag behind. But as she looked ahead to see the person pushing the pace of the entire group.

Tonpa was smiling as he ran, humming a tune and not looking like he had run the distance he had.

In the end, she and twenty-seven others –Tonpa included- had reached the end with two hours until the deadline. Tired but generally unscathed with Tonpa the worst off because the others had attacked him whenever he attempted to pick up the pace. It was another hour and a half until a group of five emerged, looking battered and beaten.

No one else made it to the end of the tunnel.

At midnight, Beans arrived in a blimp, and took them into the sky to rest and recuperate until the next stage in the morning.

* * *

 _ **((A/N: I'm thanking Pitou77 from Ao3 again for her lovely comments that are helping me write this!**_

 _ **So what do you guys think? Do you think she has her Nen already, or do you believe she's going to learn it after she gets her license?**_  
 _ **Do you have a guess as to what her ability is? What her Nen type is? (I'll give you a hint: her personality.)**_  
 _ **I might go back to Cheetu after this chapter or the next one.**_

 _ **Let me know what you think in a review down below!))**_


	6. I am ninja

**... She is ninja. We is ninja too. And I believe that you a ninja too!**

They dropped them off in an airport, and told them to steal the badges of two others while keeping their own without leaving the city's boundaries by the end of the week. Oh, and they would be ejected from the exam if they made a commotion or hurt someone not of the exam. The badges would still be in play no matter what happens to the participants though.

Riakke listened to all of this carefully, and mentally questioned every word. What were the city's boundaries, how would they know when they crossed them? What would be considered a commotion? Would merely drawing surprised attention from the crowd around them qualify? Where would the badge go if the owner was disqualified? Would it be left where it was the minute it happened or what?

Riakke considered all of this long after the others had left, and when she was ready, she flipped open her phone.

* * *

She specifically singled out Tonpa, and a casual glance to the crowds told her that she wasn't the only one. But that didn't make her task any harder.

Riakke had always looked plain. She had gotten it from her father, and none of the exotic coloring her mother used to great advantage. But being plain could be an advantage too.

The teen stepped into a couple of stores, careful to keep the "rookie crusher" in her sight through the windows as often as she could, and finished half an hour later with a satisfied smile on her face a change of clothes and a small bag on her arm.

Two hours of careful maneuvering later, and Riakke had switched Tonpa's badge with a decoy without anyone noticing. Mainly because she had given her clothes to a homeless kid and bought her lunch if she would follow this fat guy at a distance for a while. She gave the girl a number to call and some more cash when she had gotten her second prize from one of the participants that she hadn't bonded with during the first stage.

Now all she had to do was lay low until the end of the exam. A hotel sounded nice… Maybe she could invite her new friend too. She doubted she would be able to have a slumber party after she met back up with her father.

* * *

Chairman Netero was a fucker who had a truck full of screws loose.

There had been an interview where the questions was mostly about what kind of food she would like to eat when the exam was done, is there a kind of pet she wanted the most, what's her favorite time of the year, and could she answer these all seriously and honestly, please?

Then all ten of them lined up (because Tonpa had shown up with two other badges, and his own badge was a fake so eleven turned into ten; Riakke didn't feel bad at all after figuring out what was in the food he offered before the exam) in a conference room on the blimp they had ridden on the week before, tense as could be. And Netero stood and watched them for ten minutes before he spoke.

"You guys pass." And then left, leaving Beans to handle passing out the licenses and explaining what they did and what they had access to, the poor sod.

* * *

" _And those were their exact instructions?"_ Came from the speaker of Riakke's flip phone.

"Yeah, word for word. Have any ideas? I know they want us to be subtle, but I can't come up with anything that wouldn't chance breaking the rules." She answered. The teen was finally making her way out of the airport, and was debating where she should go first.

" _Why not a double? Make a deal with someone and switch clothes with them; civvies are safe, right? Then all you have to do is pickpocket a couple people."_

She considered it for a moment. "That could work." She could make a couple sacrificial badges too for the decoy to give out so their cover wasn't blown too. Riakke nodded decisively even though the person on the other end couldn't see it. She had a plan now. "Thanks dad, I appreciate it."

Riakke wouldn't be the first to say she had a strange upbringing. It was relatively normal from her perspective, but having parents like hers did not give her a normal environment to grow up in.

A mother with fire colored hair and eyes and freckles like stars on her skin. She worked as a high-end lawyer with a hobby of sherlockian observations and deductions. Riakke's plain-looking father dealed with the law from the other side and had a nack for loopholes. When her parents were hired together (or someone paid double mother's usual costs since that was the same thing and more legal than the alternative), the client's chances of succeeding went through the roof.

Now imagine a child being raised by those two. End result: Riakke. Who really didn't want to be a lawyer when she grew up. Let alone turn her parent's firm into a family business like they want her to. No way.

" _Uh-huh. Try the Red-Light District. There should be some nobodies willing to trade for anything. And don't think we won't talk about this later, young lady."_

Riakke winced. Really, these things happen to her. It's not like she goes out in search of this stuff. "Yeah. I'll let you know when I'm done." She pulled away her phone to end the call to see the line was already dead. Yup. That was dad.

Now, find a target first or get set up? Then she caught a familiar figure in a crowd. She looked around at the nearby stores with a sly smile on her face.

Why not both?

* * *

"I'm done. Where do you want to meet up?"

" _I've got a client that needs me to take care of a couple of things, so I'm going to be in City Angels for three more days."_

"Okay. I'll let you know when I'm there." She was _so_ grounded.

* * *

 _ **((A/N:**_ _ **I almost started this note with "I don't even know" again. I have to stop doing that...**_

 _ **Let me know what you think in a review down below!**_ _ **))**_


	7. Being Babysat Sucks

**Being Babysat Sucks**

"Yo!" Damn this was awkward. "I'm Cheetu. Going to be staying here for a bit." All the other Chimera Ants from the mansion were standing outside to greet him and Riakke. Speaking of… Cheetu turned to his side where the human was, and found her missing. No fair! How was he supposed to handle this by himself?

The… mouse Ant nodded her head. "Yes, we know. Riakke called ahead this morning." There was a moment of silence where Cheetu shifted nervously. Maybe he should have worn more than his shorts for this trip? He was about to say something that probably would have been stupid when the mouse Ant gestured to follow them inside and started to list the rules of the mansion. "And don't go too far from the manor." She finished. Opening the door to what looked like a small bedroom.

Cheetu very carefully didn't ask how far was "far." He had urges to go fast often, and laps just didn't cut it!

"This'll be where you sleep." She stated, and was starting to turn to leave him to get situated. "There's bathrooms at the end of the hall on every floor. They've already got everything you'll need." There was a quick glance at his preferred shampoo bottle that was sticking out of his bag. "But it seems you have your own things. Expect to share with the others if they find them." And she closed the door behind her.

* * *

So it turned out that there weren't as many Ants in the house as he thought there were. There were only three- four if Cheetu counted himself. The other occupants were human.

The way he found out was pretty funny, now that he thought about it. Everyone had been sitting around the table for dinner on his first night at the bubble-gum chewing redhead insistence when he telepathically asked the bear-looking man on the other side of the table to pass the pasta. Mostly because his mouth was full with something delicious, and Riakke had plenty of time to beat table manners into him.

He got some looks from Colt, the mouse Ant and the pink koala when they noticed where he was directing his question. Eventually Colt, who had been on the bear-man's side, handed the bowl of spaghetti across the table.

Those who were surprised at the unexpected passing of food, Cheetu later learned, were humans that stuck around because of Kaito the mouse Ant.

* * *

Of course, he had to run off at some point. He was getting twitchy, and that was making Koala (turns out that was the guy's name- who would have guessed?) twitchy for his water gourd. A gourd that held water that Koala could spit at sniper rifle velocities. He could outrun them all until Koala was out, but the guy knew where he slept, so that would be a no-no.

So he ran off, stole some snacks from a convenience store at invisible speeds, and did a hike up a couple mountains and back.

He was back in fifteen minutes, throughly satisfied.

Kaito could still tell that he went farther than "far." But instead of doing that disappointed look thing that Riakke did to make him feel guilty, the Ant (and what the heck, Kaito smells female, but is referring to herself as a guy, what does he call Kaito now?) just asked him to bring some stuff back to share with the rest of the house. Oh, and to pay for the things he stole, but that just meant he could go out and run again.

Later, when he's sent out with a large list of things everyone wanted, he realized he's going to have to carry this stuff back.

He preferred Riakke's guilty look thing over this punishment. Even when he had no clue what he did, and had to figure out what and apologize for it for that gaze to go away.

* * *

"Wait, you have HammerSpace?" The gum-chewing redhead exclaimed when Cheetu made it back apparently empty handed, but then proceeded to unload piles of stuff from a pocket dimension.

The cheetah Chimera and took a hasty step (or ten) away from the human. The high pitch of that handheld video game in her hands a constant annoyance on top of whatever the heck she was going on about. "Hammer-wha?" It had taken him until he was halfway back with the large pile of things before he realized he could stuff them into a variant of his Tag World.

"HammerSpace!" The woman said excitedly with stars in her eyes.

He was starting to think it was time to go camping in the woods… until Riakke came to pick him up.

Yeah, that was a good idea.

* * *

Why do I have to do this stuff again?" Cheetu whined as he completed another page of forms.

"Why couldn't Riakke do this stuff instead?" He continued. His arm hurt. His hand hurt. His head hurt. He was tired. He was pretty sure the ache under his forehead was a headache, and it was seriously distracting.

"How much more of this is left?" He groaned when he compared the two stacks of completed and not completed.

He wasn't even halfway done!

"There, there." A hand patted his hair. The high pitch whine of the gaming console gave away who was messing up his hair. Spinner. "You need to finish this up so you can be legal and not hunted by everyone!"

He thumped his head against the desk he was sitting at.

He. Hated. Paperwork.

* * *

 _ **((A/N: I hope I did Cheetu right...**_

 _ **So I've decided on having three more chapters. One for Riakke picking up Cheetu and something else that I haven't decided yet The second being plot relevant about the dark continent (which will probably be AU since that part hasn't been finished yet in cannon). And then an epilogue**_

 _ **Let me know what you think in a review down below!**_ ))


	8. Interlude

**Interlude**

One moment she was greeting Kite, and the next she had something shoved in her face. "Look Riakke! Look at what I've got!"

She shoved the hand and what it was holding away with annoyance before she realized what was in her charge's hand. "This is great!" she exclaimed, and brought the identification closer for inspection. She looked at Kite in askance. "How did you guys get this done so fast? Legal procedures like this takes months!" Kite only smirked smugly. "Doesn't matter. I owe you one! Name what you want, and its done."

The Chimera Ant shrugged. "Stick around for a bit. I'll come up with something." Which led to Riakke and Cheetu to stay at the Chimera Ant Manor for a couple of semi-peaceful days when Gon came barging through the front doors asking to see Kite. She had no idea how the kid got so many connections so quick.

He probably knew all the major Hunters and he had only gotten his Hunter's ID the year before! Not to mention his little stunt with a Zoldyck at Heaven's Arena before this stuff with the Chimera Ants happened. Some of his fight had been broadcasted all over the Yorbian Continent.

She shook her head at his exuberance as he bounced past her in the entrance hall. He didn't look like he was in the Intensive Care Ward a week ago. Riakke wouldn't mind talking with the kid that was causing so much commotion with the thirteenth Chairman election, but it seemed like he was on a tight schedule when he bolted out the door less than thirty minutes later.

She stopped by the kitchen to grab a glass of milk on her way to the parlor where Kite sat in contemplation. Balancing her drink, Riakke let herself fall gracelessly onto the couch.

They sat like that for a while, and Riakke emptied her cup with a pleased sigh.

"How good are you in a fight?" The human turned her head to look towards Kite at the question. Her gaze measuring his stance in his chair.

Yeah, fighting in the body of a little girl when you were used to an adult male's would put the breaks on anyone. Experience would keep him above average, but if his limbs were shorter than he was used to; if he didn't have the strength or endurance or speed he was familiar with…

"It depends on the fight." She finally answered. "I have a high chance of winning if Nen is involved, but that's because my Nen doesn't obey the rules the way others expect it to. I would probably lose if I couldn't use my Nen." Riakke flexed her arm. A majority of the shape was lost beneath the suit she was wearing, but it was clear she didn't have a lot of muscle mass. "Obviously."

She watched Kite take a delicate sip from his tea cup. The human guessed what he was about to say.

* * *

Yup. She called it.

"I have a question before we start." Riakke stated with a hand slightly raised like she was in a classroom, watching Kite slide out of a fighting stance. "Do you still have the same Nen? Like from before?"

Kite looked to be contemplating the answer before a look of focus rippled over his face.

A cloud poofed into existence behind and a little above his shoulder. "Kite! It's about damn time you called on me! What, were you too busy slacking off to let me know you survived? Well?" The miniature clown huffed when the cloud dispersed, and Kite smiled fondly at the Nen construct.

So he was a Conjurer, huh?

"I was worried about you, damn it! When I last saw you, you were-" the clown didn't finish its sentence.

O-kay. She was going to give those two some privacy.

Riakke wandered over to where Cheetu was practicing with his crossbow and catching them before they could hit anything. "So, what's this I hear about you having a HammerSpace?" She asked amusedly when she was within human hearing distance.

Cheetu groaned and threw himself onto the ground, his crossbow vanishing from existence, and she could hear a muffled "Please don't talk about that! If I knew it was going to be so much trouble, I wouldn't have learned it."

She chuckled.

* * *

 _ **((A/N: Is it just me, or are my chapters getting shorter? Probably both. This is all I can get out of my muse about this part. Maybe after I'm done I can spruce it up a bit. (Ha! Plant pun!)**_

 _ **Let me know what you think or any guesses I haven't revealed yet that I've asked before or what you think in a review down below!))**_


	9. Let's Go Camping!

**Let's Go Camping!**

She shuffled through her forms with her phone wedged between her ear and shoulder. Cheetu was messing with a Simon Says toy on the couch behind her, probably listening in on the call. He would more than likely say he couldn't help it if she called him out on it later. Riakke referenced back to another sheaf and copied a number onto another. Stupid tax season.

"Well?" The Hunter asked bluntly. "Why do you want me to this?"

There was a pause where she could hear paper being shuffled about. Riakke didn't feel any pity for the one on the other end of the call. She wanted to be Chairman after all; she would have known there would be bureaucracy involved, and typically lead to mountains of paperwork and reports.

" _You come highly recommended."_ Cheadle admitted. " _And the reports on the follow up with your previous employers show your experience in subtly, and we need someone subtle in this case."_

Riakke spun her chair around to watch Cheetu play with the toy at blurring speeds. She had paid someone to alter it so the toy would increase its pace after every correct sequence, and the Chimera Ant loved it. The fact that it was a toy with its speaker removed and the noisy buttons replaced with something touch sensitive made it something he could bring just about anywhere and helped her tolerance of it. Still, Cheetu wasn't one for subtlety. She could make him, but it wasn't his style and he would eventually do what he wanted regardless.

"I'm guessing Morel threw me under the bus?" She didn't get an answer so she continued on. "I don't think I'm all that subtle at the moment, seeing who my charge is."

" _Your charge also another reason why I want to hire you. I'm told that it is capable of speeds that renders regular modes of human transportation obsolete, and that you are able to keep up with it."_

"Cheetu is a he, not an it. And he renders all methods of human transportation obsolete. Unless there's someone out there with instant teleportation that wants a race to decide who's faster." Riakke retorts quickly. She wasn't bragging. Really.

" _Regardless. Will you do it?"_

She sighed. Why couldn't this world changing stuff happen and then resolve itself without her getting involved? Sure, it's fun getting involved in these action packed fights, but she had her own plans to accomplish and these interruptions only lengthened the process.

"Yeah, if you clear me and Cheetu for this job, and leave our names out of the public report, you've got my part." The Chimera Ant was watching her, his toy abandoned on the coffee table. "Now you have to convince him, because he has the choice to refuse as his own being. And he's been listening to this whole conversation, so at least you don't have to start over, right?"

Riakke could hear Cheadle spluttering surprisedly from her phone before putting it on speaker for her grinning charge. He knew what she was doing; he was probably already going to agree if only because fighting was going to be inevitable, but she had given him the chance to prove that he and his race was more than the Chairwoman had thought.

* * *

She dodged a limb flying at her head, and attacked the body that was attached to it. Why was she doing this again? Oh right, she made a decision, and she always followed through. With a sigh and a stretch, Riakke moved on, leaving a smear on the ground from her fight behind without a hair out of place.

She and Cheetu made up the members of the scouting team for their group. They were expected to find the late Chairman's son and report back the location for the heavy hitters to finish the mission. They were supposed to avoid engaging with the opposition, seeing as the leader of their group was some pig headed chauvinist who believed they couldn't win any battles in the Dark Continent -that they had only specialized in speed and reconnaissance.

What a load of baloney.

Just because she didn't have as many stars as Sir Piggy didn't mean it was impossible for her to take him down. Sure, she wasn't well known , but that was because she liked it that way. And the others believed that if they hadn't heard of her achievements, then she had either none to speak of or that they meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. They thought even less of Cheetu. Which lowered her opinions of them more than she thought possible.

Whatever. She was going to do her part, and if they happened to complete the mission's objective before the others could get to shore, that was their problem for underestimating them.

And for being so slow to show up.

* * *

Riakke watched distant plains from a cliff. Through her telescope, she could see a fight taking place. With a fond huff, she smiled. Of course Cheetu would be the one to find their objective first.

Now she had to decide if she should join the fight or not. The Chimera Ant seemed to be handling his opponents pretty well, but she wanted to be on hand if the situation turned sour.

And… her telescope shifted towards the non-combatants watching on with amusement. Those guys seemed like they would be too much for Cheetu's plate.

Riakke considered herself well suited towards fighting professional Hunters. Yet at the same time, she wasn't. It all depended on their first attack and how much she was underestimated.

If their first attack was powerful enough to kill her before she could use her Nen or didn't need to come in contact, she would lose. But if those observers thought her weaker than she was-

In a split second, she was speeding through the air, leaving behind all her gear on the cliff, and crashing bodily into someone who would have been her charge's murderer.

They crashed into the dirt a distance away, and slowed to a stop. The guy under her flung her away, and she yelped when she skidded over sharp rocks. She laid limp with her back to her opponent, and had a clear view of Cheetu about to rip apart the last of his. Riakke felt a hand close around her throat and was lifted into the air. Her head lolled to the side.

"Hey monster!" The arm shook her around as if the noise of her dangling body would attract Cheetu's attention. "Attack one more time, and I'll crush her throat!"

The Chimera Ant sounded amused. "You… are you stupid?"

She felt the hand tighten slightly, and figured she had had enough. " _Down."_ Riakke commanded with a firm voice with fingers pressed against her windpipe.

The guy dropped like a rock, and Riakke landed on her feet with a surprising sturdiness for someone that looked that injured. Good thing she wasn't; the only causality was the state of her clothes. Ryu was an awesome ability!

In the moment she had taken care of her opponent, Cheetu had finished off his. Together, they faced the ones who hadn't participated in the fight. She recognized Ging, Pariston, and Netero Junior from the briefing as the ones to focus on and bring back alive, or kill them if they can't. The others, about twenty in total, seemed to be a little higher threat level as the guys they had just finished.

Riakke caught the tell-tale twitch of Cheetu's ear, and she slapped a hand on his shoulder before he could go charging in. They had no idea to the abilities of the three they know the names of, and the others had the advantage of numbers.

"Yo!" She called across the distance with a friendly wave. She almost broke the smile she had forced on her face when Ging waved back cheerfully. He probably remembered her… Great. She moved her hand from his shoulder to his hair and messed it up playfully. "Sorry about this one. He's got origins here, and wanted to find his roots. Although," she narrowed her eyes threateningly, "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be the first one to throw the punch."

Cheetu sulked under her hand, resigned to the treatment.

Junior laughed. "Yes, that was our fault. He came out of nowhere, surprised them, and they were a bit on edge from being here. Still, that should suffice?" He gestured to the dead bodies on the ground. "Why don't we get away from here before some creatures are attracted to the smell?" He certainly was charismatic. The tight way he moved displayed how in control he was of his body and furthermore his physical reactions. The baggy clothing didn't help. She wouldn't be able to get a true reading on him.

"I was on that mountain a while ago. Didn't see any monsters in the area before I left." Riakke offered with a jerk of a thumb over her shoulder towards a barely visible bump on the horizon.

Junior smiled charmingly, and beckoned them to lead the way.

* * *

Junior, if anything, seemed amused that they had killed members of his group over a misunderstanding. His groupies seemed to disagree, almost physically aiming their revenge fueled emotions at them along with rather pitiful attempts to kill them. Well, it's not like she could bring them back from the dead anyways.

They all sat around a big fire with an impromptu spit over it that hung the creature Cheetu had vanished off to hunt earlier. With conversations between groups of two or three. Ging and Cheetu looked like they were getting along pretty well with their large gestures and larger grins. As for her own…

"How did you two get to the Dark Continent so quickly?" He asked, the picture of polite intrigue with the way he had leaned forward interestedly. "I was under the impression that airplanes couldn't make the trip without refueling and going by water took four months."

Riakke smiled as innocently as she could. "Yes, but we didn't use those methods. As you saw, we can move at high speeds without wasting too much energy."

He hummed. "And how long have you been here Miss..."

"Riakke, and that ball of trouble over there is Cheetu." She waved a hand in the Chimera Ant's direction then took a moment to look like she was thinking about how long since they had touched down. "We've been her for a little more than a month. It feels like it's been longer than that." She batted away a knife that would have dug into her back without a comment. That had been the third attempt to kill her since the sun had set, and it was starting to get seriously annoying. Maybe next one that came her way, she could angle it towards someone else? The trench knife vanished from existence a moment after it buried itself into the packed earth beside her suitcase that Cheetu had fetched earlier that day.

So that guy with the burn scar over the left side of his face was a Conjurer of knives?

Junior introduced himself along with the others of his group, but Riakke wasn't listening. She leaned on her open palm on her knees as she watched Cheetu enjoy himself for the moment. How was she going to get them out of this situation? Junior had yet to let her out of his sphere of Nen, and she took a few split moments to get enough momentum without damaging her body. In the event where they had to get out of the area immediately, she would have to risk using her ability more than she had experimented before.

Now what conditions do they need to win? Separating the grunts from their targets would be one of the easiest to complete. Ging seemed to be the type to not actually fight, maybe subtly sabotage his group, but once his comrades were defeated, he would follow after obediently. Pariston was either like her, taking advantage of other's first impression for the upper hand, or had no physical abilities. He had to have some ability though, because he wouldn't have been in the running for the Chairman position. So they would have to incapacitate him quickly before he could mount a counter-attack. Then there was Beyond Netero; she could only assume that he had all the physical skill that Isaac Netero had on top of something else that probably helped him step out from his father's shadow. If she could get her Nen ability to work, the game would be in the bag, but if it didn't... She needed to talk to Cheetu about the different attacks he had, to see if there was one that might give them an advantage. Which would be hard since Junior had been watching her since she had gotten within his En.

Now she was going in circles.

Ugh. Why did she ever agree to do this? Why couldn't she just finish her taxes and relax in her apartment with Cheetu?

* * *

 ** _((A/N: Woo! One of the longest chapters so far!_**

 ** _Sorry, looks like there's still two more chapters left since I want to add in a fight scene. Next chapter will be the end (and maybe Sir Piggy will finally show up... who knows?) then the eleventh will be the epilogue._**

 ** _Did I get everyone right? What could be in Riakke's suitcase?_**

 ** _Let me know what you think in a review down below!))_**


	10. It's the Final Countdown!

**It's the Final Countdown!**

What had she read that one time? That if at all possible, use your legs to attack? This guy had taken that philosophy to the extreme. Pariston looked like a thin wimp, but she had already mentally swiped that description off the figurative work desk faster than Cheetu could count to three.

His attacks consisted of kicking so quickly that a blade of air was created and launched in a general direction. The blond's suit definitely played down his musculature, because it took some beef to do that. The faker.

His ability also caused a problem for her: he had a chance of being able to adapt to floating in the air and would still have a free range of motion to attack. So, she can't float him, and she was having a hard time getting close enough to touch him since he had been fighting at a distance from the get-go.

In the split second it took her to flip over another blade of wind, Riakke glanced at the three unconscious grunts she had taken down before Pariston had descended upon her. And since she had fought them before…

With a commanding _"Forward!"_ the three bodies started to slide limply across the ground, increasing in speed until they were hurtling towards her enemy above the ground. She was close behind.

Then her open hand was reaching close to touching Pariston in the distraction the flying bodies provided. But then he started to shift away, even with his head turned away, and Riakke suddenly remembered about En. Of course a fight like this wouldn't be so easy to finish after a few minutes.

But a blur flashed on the other side of her opponent, and he was pushing against her hand a split second later. Thank you, Cheetu! With a vicious grin that she showed openly to a frozen Pariston who looked like he had come face to face with a woman in the wrong bathroom and was knowingly about to receive righteous justice, she commanded almost sweetly, _"Down."_

He crumpled to the ground with the snap of a bone and a painful grunt. A quick chop to the back of his neck guaranteed he would be out for the rest of the battle. The experience was rather nice, since the guy gave off insincere signals like a beacon, and he was very much aware of it. It made her hair feel like it was being slicked in the wrong direction since she first saw him on the stage at the Hunter's Association.

With a glance at her surroundings, Riakke took note of the fights still happening. Cheetu seemed to be sparring lightly with Ging while flitting around to interrupt other's battles randomly, and the Hunter seemed to be amused by the others' yelling after the Chimera Ant for breaking some code of battle honor. Then there was the other half of her and Cheetu's backup that they hadn't been aware of taking care of the grunts and Junior. None of the jerks she had to interact with before heading to this continent were there. She didn't let herself think about what that meant.

She had seen Knuckle with a chameleon Chimera Ant before they disappeared from her senses in a way that was unlike Cheetu's method of pure speed, so they were in the area somewhere. There were a couple of other guys she knew from her interactions with Morel there doing the shouting at her charge for ruining their fights with the upper and middle grunts, but she couldn't remember their names. She had met them at some bar Morel had dragged her off to after a mission, and started to list names almost like he was reading them off a paper while pointing to their spots in the bar. This was all after a few rounds too, so she didn't blame herself for forgetting

Then there was the guy himself off to the side watching the fight between Junior and… a clown?

Her fight finished, she floated an unconscious Pariston and towed him behind her, picking up her suitcase she had abandoned before the fight began on her way over to her friend.

As she approached, Riakke felt a chill run up and down her spine. She looked around, and found the source coming very precisely from the turned away clown. The sensation died away as she came to a stop next to Morel. Huh, that would explain why Cheetu hadn't gotten involved in this fight.

"So," the younger Hunter started before trailing off. There was a boulder flying towards Junior like it was under her power, but she knew it didn't work on inanimate objects. Then how did this-

She let out an audible sound of realization when she saw something connecting the two with Gyo. The same with the next boulder, and the next, and the next…

"So," she tried again, "do I want to know what happened to the other Hunters that had been on this mission?" She saw Morel shift from the corner of her eye as they both watched the battle unfold.

"Probably not." He stated with a grim frown. Others were walking over to their spot to watch the last battle taking place, Cheetu standing quite the distance away with a chuckling Ging. How were those two friends already? They met only a few days ago!

She shook her head at their antics, and watched how this clown fought Junior. Hadn't she seen that guy at the elections too? She was pretty sure he had been watching the voters deposit their nominations at some point, but she couldn't remember precisely when.

There wasn't any conversation between the observers. The exception being Cheetu who was somehow antagonizing everyone close to him without saying a word, and just grinning under everyone else's thinly veiled insults and threats. Knuckle and his Chimera Ant seemed to be Cheetu's main target, and Knuckle gave as good as he got.

The last battle started moving farther and farther away from the group until she could barely see the fighters as pinpricks in the distance.

Then something blew up.

The shockwave was intense, flinging those with a poor grip on the ground away. Clothes flipped back and forth in the strong wind.

A figure started his way back towards them. The clown was in a rougher state than before with his ripped up clothes, but he didn't seem to care judging by the almost skip to his step and the rather psychotic smile on his face.

When they checked later for the report, Beyond Netero remained as nothing but a smear on a savannah plain. Which one of the Punitive Branch guys happily set fire to, for some reason. She didn't know the procedure; she wasn't in that division after all.

They started to make their way back with prisoners in tow soon after that. Pariston was a literal example. He had been injected with a cocktail Morel's group had brought with them, and was being tugged along behind Riakke with a similarity that was alike to a child and a balloon.

"I've been meaning to ask." One of the guys she couldn't remember the name of said from near the back of the group. "How are you keeping him in the air? I'm not seeing anything with Gyo." Riakke shared a look with Morel who was pointing with his eyes amusedly at Cheetu. His ears were perked intently in her direction.

With a roll of her eyes and a grin on her face, she answered. "It's a secret!" Before jumping into the air and falling beside the ground. Her previous opponent still being pulled after her. "Bring your friend, Cheetu! I want to drop this guy off already! First one to make it to the Hunter's Association chooses the Theme Park!" She called back.

Her Chimera Ant charge seemed to be getting used to her antics, since it didn't take as long as it did the first time she had done it to him. Ging had a surprised look on his face as he was carried like a sack of potatoes over Cheetu's furry shoulder. She could hear Morel belting out a laugh for a few seconds before they were too far away, and she laughed.

"Dibs on Ten Flags!" Cheetu shouted out before he put on the speed.

"Oh no you don't! We've gone there the last eight times! Mouse World!" She rebutted, matching her speed to his.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ging shouted with what could have been a grin, but was hard to say since the wind was flapping his skin about in comical ways.

"Only if you win!" She and Cheetu call back at the same time with matching competitive grins.

* * *

 ** _((A/N: Okay... Let me just say that I had about three hundred words before this last writing session. And then I got this huge chunk! Without scene changes too!_**

 ** _Suffice to say I have no clue what is up with my muse...  
Woo! The story is almost over! Only the epilogue is left~! Let me know what you think in a review down below!))  
_**


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Cheetu, the dirty dirty cheater that we was, led them through the entrance of Ten Flags with a wide grin on his face. Not that Riakke could see it with the trench coat hiding all his features, but she knew it was there. After they had gotten to the Hunter's Association Headquarters, Pariston was hauled away and Ging had been given a slap on the wrist. Or at least, she thought so since he wasn't being taken in alongside the blond and was coming with them to the thrill park. She hadn't been privy to the conversation between Cheadle and Ging.

She walked backwards ahead of the two later after a few roller coasters with some food on a stick in her hand. The men of her group weren't faring as well as she was. They looked like they were going to throw up at the sight of the corn dog in her hand. "Come on! Let's ride that one!" Riakke turned to point excitedly at one that looked like a set of infinite loop the loops, twists, and drops.

Identical groans behind her caused her to grin. "How can you not be sick after eating so much?" Cheetu moaned as he followed behind her. He had given up the cloak he had been wearing before, revealing the sick mask, beanie, tee shirt, gloves, and baggy pants that made him seem normal in a crowd. "Weren't you the one at first that didn't want to go on any of the rides?"

Riakke finished her food with a smirk within viewing range of her friends. "Yeah, I don't like roller coasters all that much, but since you insisted I ride with you, I'm going to insist that you ride with me until you throw up."

Ging did a very good impression of a zombie when he incredulously asked, "But why aren't you even a little nauseous?"

She smiled, and slipped through the crowds to the ride she had pointed to before. Behind her, she heard Cheetu answer for her. "It's that flying thing she does. It feels like you're dropping without an end."

"So you've felt it before? If you knew this was going to happen, why'd you start this in the first place? I blame all of this on you."

"Because her screams at the beginning are hilarious!" Cheetu seemed to be feeling better, maybe she should go with a harsher ride? Nah, Ging wouldn't be able to handle it. "Besides, she won't really make puke. Riakke's too nice for that."

"Aww!" The female Hunter cooed and she spun around. "Did Cheetu just say something nice! I'll have to get you something! Have you had a cannoli before?" She asked eying the sweet on a menu they just passed by. She almost cackled at the Chimera Ant's comically widened eyes.

"Uh, I haven't?" He answered like he was unsure if this was a treat or punishment hidden as a reward.

She ushered them both to a table that had a bit of privacy and ordered some sweets to be brought over.

Ging seemed surprised by the sudden kindness, but Cheetu just relaxed in the metal chair after a few tense moments.

The desserts arrived a little later, and was quickly devoured after Ging had gotten his stomach back in working order.

"I think I'm done with these ride for today." Riakke thought aloud with a toothpick mining after a strawberry seed stuck between her teeth. The Chimera Ant stole a glance at her, and shrugged at her.

"Your choice."

Ging looked too distracted by a round of York New cheesecake to be listening, to her amusement. Then he had to say that accursed word. "This is the best vacation ever!" He crowed before digging in.

With wide eyes, Riakke got up, and started to walk away, leaving behind enough jenny to pay for the bill. "I'm out of here."

"Wait, where are you going?" Cheetu asked after her confusedly. She could hear him getting out of his seat to follow her.

"Going to go back to work." If she got back to her apartment, maybe it wouldn't happen…

"Why? We only got here a few hours ago. What's wrong?" Ging asked; she hadn't registered him following her. Riakke didn't answer. Instead pulling out her phone and hitting speed-dial. "Please tell me you have something for me to do." She said as soon as the call connected.

" _Fellarock."_ Morel grunted. " _I don't care where you are in the world you are. You have my time zone set as one of your clocks on your phone. I know you do. Stop calling me so damn early if it's just to keep you from boredom!"_ There was a click, and Riakke pulled her phone away from her ear to look at the screen fondly. Morel never was a morning person.

She was still weaving through the crowds of tourists to the exit with her friends trailing after her in apprehension when she hit speed-dial again. Before he could say something, she interjected, "Catastrophe prevention here. Give me something to do." From the corner of her eye, the brunette saw Cheetu and Ging share a glance.

" _Well, if you don't mind being a taste-tester for me, you can come by Morel's place."_ A different voice than she expected answered her instead with an amused tone. " _And can you tell me why Cranky Face with his doom glasses threw his ringing phone at my head?"_

Riakke couldn't hold back the bubble of laughter from the unexpected question. "Sorry, I was disturbing his beauty rest. I'm Riakke. What are you doing at his house?"

" _Menchi. Nice to meet 'cha! Morel knows his seafood, and I wanted a second opinion on this dish I'm working on."_ There was a yawn from the other end. " _So? Cranky Face doesn't seem to be getting up any time soon. Want to be my guinea pig?"_

Riakke hummed, sending a glance back to see Cheetu explaining what was being said. Right, his super hearing. She forgot about that. The Chimera Ant finished, and they both nodded in agreement with happy grins. "Sure. I've got two other volunteers with me. Is that okay?"

" _The more the merrier! When'll you be here?"_

A moment of contemplation, and Riakke guessed, "Around two hours?"

" _See you then, Riakke and volunteers!"_ With a smile, Riakke pocketed her phone and stepped through the turnstiles in a way that showed she had done the motion more than a few times. The woman waited for the two to catch up, having gotten separated with them in the lineup to the exit. A minute later, and she saw them approaching, looking a little more haggard than before. Amused, she called out when they were close enough, "So Ging, who do you want to ride with? Me or Cheetu?"

Ging looked back and forth between his choices, he seemed to remember their previous conversation about how it felt flying with her though, since he picked Cheetu. The Chimera Ant patted him on the back. "Good choice." She heard him whisper.

"Okay," the female Hunter interrupted, "let's get to an unpopulated area. Don't want to tear someone's skin off by being too close."

"Wait! You can do that?"

Riakke scoffed, and Cheetu answered, "Nah. The most that usually happens are a couple of flipped skirts."

"Cheetu!" The Chimera Ant had already hoisted Ging over his shoulder and run off. With pursed lips, Riakke jumped lightly up to the roof of a nearby building and started to fall from there. It didn't take long to catch up with her charge. "I can't believe you did that." She said, smothering her laughter and forcing the corners of her lips to not curl into a smile.

She started a race with them to Morel's home while they were bickering about something, leaving Cheetu to catch up with a shout of "I don't know where that is!"

Riakke put on the speed, leaving an amused "It's this way!" behind.

* * *

She won, but she usually did when they raced to a new location. It probably wouldn't happen again after Cheetu learned how to get there. Riakke sent a gloating smile towards Cheetu and the apparently motion sick Ging, and knocked on the door.

Menchi dressed the same way Cheetu preferred, was her first thought when the door opened. Those were some short shorts. Her second wondered how she wrestled her hair into the strange position without concrete hair gel. She very purposefully didn't say that thought aloud, and stepped on Cheetu's foot when she saw him gearing up to ask it himself.

She heard some grumbling deeper in the house, and grinned when she saw Morel shuffling down the hallway in pajamas and slippers and a steaming mug in his hand. "Morning Morel!" She chirped loudly.

"Exactly. This is a time to be quiet." He rumbled back quickly. "And what have I said about showing up unannounced?"

"But I did call ahead, you were just too grumpy to know better to say yes." She shot back, stepping past Menchi with the ease that wind had attained.

"Why would I know better to say yes?" He questioned. "Every time you've been involved in anything recently, trouble has been waiting around the corner." He pointedly looked at Cheetu while passing a confused look at Ging as to why the former Zodiac member was in his house. It was really weird to be able to see what he was doing without his sunglasses on.

"Because bad things are going to happen if you didn't give me something to do!"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a prediction that is rarely wrong."

"Hope you're wrong then. I've got nothing."

"Don't worry about it. We're Menchi's taste-testers today!"

Morel looked to Menchi for conformation, and the other three looked like they had just watched a tennis match. The Culinary Hunter snapped out of her daze first, nodding in agreement, elbowing the other two and shuffled them inside and onto stools next to the bar through the kitchen window.

Riakke obligingly sat in the third seat, leaving Morel to sit in the last stool. Menchi piled the bar high with food, and Cheetu being the fastest already had his plate full before anyone else could reach for their utensils. He was also the first to take a bite. "What the hell!" He cried, chugging his glass of water in the time it took Riakke to blink. Then she started to laugh. "Why is there fire in your food?" He demanded with his tongue sticking out like it was blistered, and of course Menchi got insulted by that.

It went downhill from there, eventually insults were slung about, and Riakke would believe that Cheetu took the time to research insults to the best of his ability once he realized they were a thing. Then Menchi exclaimed, "You're not human if you don't like spicy food!"

There had been a heavy pause where Ging, Riakke, and Morel stared at Menchi as if she didn't know what she just said. Did the Chimera Ant look human to her? Maybe the disguise from Ten Flags really worked.

Cheetu looked like he was struggling to find words to say.

The Cuisine Hunter seemed to take the silence as a win, her smug smile growing when Cheetu finally spoke. "But… I'm not human."

"What, really?" He nodded cautiously, probably not sure how this stranger would react. "Oh. Okay." She paused. "This still doesn't mean you can't like spicy foods though!"

"But- You just said-!"

"I don't care what I just said!"

Riakke couldn't hear the rest of their argument over her own laughing. Yeah, Cheetu and Menchi would get along like a house on fire.

Speaking of which, does Morel have fire insurance on his house?

Somehow, by the time she had gotten her laughter under control, Ging was explaining what they were doing before she had suddenly called Morel. "And then she started to walk off like a Manipulator had gotten her when I mentioned how this vacation was going."

"SHUT UP!" Riakke yelled, plugging her ears in hopes that her bad luck wouldn't come. Her open eyes froze on her still empty plate. She hadn't done anything yet. Whatever she was trying to stop had probably already happened. With a reluctant sigh, she pulled her fingers from her ears.

"-yeah, there was another weird public broadcast about an hour ago. I was listening to it when I was bringing in the groceries. Here, I think I recorded it." Menchi picked up the remote control from the coffee table and turned on the TV, and started going through the settings.

Watching her, Riakke spooned some food onto her plate, and started to eat. She nearly chocked on her first bite when Junior's face appeared on the screen. His smug grin and a different set of billowing robes that more than likely hid his injuries from his fight with that clown were frozen with the pause symbol blinking in the upper right corner of the screen. The desert plain behind him was very familiar.

"Ha! I told you it was too spicy!" Cheetu crowed at Menchi. She just flipped him off, and pressed a button on the remote to start the recording. "Wait, isn't that guy dead?" The Chimera Ant sounded confused.

"He should be." Morel responded, sounding more awake than he did before. Riakke looked up at him. The Sea Hunter was watching the recording with a serious look on his face. He sighed. "Looks like being a taste-tester didn't stop your bad thing from happening."

Riakke ignored the broadcast. Her phone was vibrating, and she knew who it was without taking it out of her pocket. She did so anyway, and answered the call. "I have no idea how he survived the explosion." She said as a greeting. She slid to her feet and stepped out of the room.

" _And Hisoka can't be reached either. I know it's more dangerous this time, but can you get a group together and take care of him?"_ Cheadle said back.

"Who? Hisoka or Beyond?"

" _If their working together, yes."_

Riakke sighed. "Yeah, but you call someone else to fix your problems next time."

" _As long as you handle the ones after that."_ The Chairwoman responded playfully. " _Oh, and bring Ging along. He's supposed to stick with you for the next three months."_

"Really? News to me." Riakke said. "See ya." She hung up.

The Hunter got many expectant looks when she stepped back into the living room. She noticed the TV was off again. The recording was probably pretty short to finish before her quick conversation with Cheadle.

"Anybody want to join us in telling a dead-man he's dead?" She asked the room. Menchi shrugged, pulling out her own phone and leaving the room. Riakke wasn't sure if that was a yes or a no.

Morel was already heading towards another hallway that she knew led to a set of bedrooms and more likely his gear for traveling. Cheetu grinned nastily, and Ging looked like he was having second thoughts of befriending the Chimera Ant if this was his reaction.

"You plan the worst times to have a vacation, Riakke." Cheetu claimed gleefully. "Managing to have them happen when they'll be most likely to be interrupted, and all that." He laughed.

"I'm not even sure if this is the strangest one yet." She replied. Morel returned with a bag over his shoulder.

"Knuckle and Shoot want to come as well." He said with no other explanation, not that it was necessary.

She nodded, and continued. "I was on vacation once, a guy followed me around blathering on about a quest and how we were soul mates, and I didn't bother to listen to all he was saying, but I managed to lose him after a few days of flying around the different continents."

The others started to laugh at that, and that was when Menchi came back with a serious look on her face. It quickly turned to confusion at the boisterous laughter. "What'd I miss?"

"Don't worry about it." Riakke grinned and waved like she could shoo it away. "Let's go kill that fucker."

* * *

 ** _((A/N: Yay! First ever multi-chapter story is complete! I'm so happy with myself (and I couldn't have done it without Pitou77 from Ao3. Seriously, it probably would have remained a one shot if it wasn't for her)._**

 ** _Also, looks like I was right about the final word count for this final chapter. Kind of surprising, since I usually go over or under by a lot. Meh..._**

 ** _Did anybody see that ending coming? Honestly? I wrote a really sparse outline of what was going to happen, and I just wanted that group to find Junior broadcasting from the Dark Continent saying, "GUESS WHO'S BACK BITCHES?" And they all had a collective "NOPE!" moment, but I wanted to stay away from the crack category, and this was as close as I could get._**

 ** _Let me know what you think down below!_**

 ** _Also, I've been writing some other things, but haven't let myself post them until I get this completed, so expect more on my works soon!))_**


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